Just when you think you've seen everything (as far as carbonated beverages go), along comes ***GuS Grown-up Soda*** produced by the young whippersnappers at the helm of Utmost Brands, Inc., in New York City. ***GuS Grown-up Soda*** is basically an assortment of colas and juices spritzed generously with seltzer water which imbues them with a "dry" taste instead of being primarily sweet as most colas and sparkling beverages are. ***GuS Grown-Up Soda*** is the sort of beverage that people like Carrie and her friends from "*Sex and the City*" would have loved -- sophisticated and cool, the type of thing you hope friends will notice in your fridge.

***GuS Grown-up Soda*** comes in a variety of flavors, including ***Dry Cola, Dry Pomegranate, Star Ruby Grapefruit, Dry Valencia Orange, Grape Black Currant, Extra Dry Ginger Ale, Dry Meyer Lemon***, and the one I chose -- ***Dry Cranberry Lime*** which is a blend of purified sparkling water, cane sugar, cranberry and lime juice concentrates, natural flavors, carrot extract (for color) and ester gum. This product has a refreshing taste and more calories than diet soda but less than regular sparkling beverages. (I bought mine from Peapod but for other distributors, check out ***drinkgus.com***.)

**STATS:**

A 12 oz. glass bottle contains a single serving which packs 95 calories with zero fats or proteins, only 10 mg. Sodium, and 24 grams each Total Carbs and Sugars. That's how I like nutritional information -- **short and snappy**, something you could read in a New York minute.

**TASTE TIP:**

The dry sweet taste of ***GuS Grown-up Soda*** makes it a perfect accompaniament for food, especially your favorite fried chicken or juicy burgers. ***GuS ***might end up being a popular addition to summer cookouts this year.

**MY VIEWPOINT:**

***GuS Grown-up Soda*** may be the perfect beverage for people who think they don't like carbonated drinks. I enjoyed the taste of ***Dry Cranberry Lime*** very much but it may take me a while to get used to it and it's not cheap either. I do recommend that everybody at least give it a try as there doesn't seem to be anything else quite like it out there. ***GuS Grown-up Soda*** may end up getting to be a habit with a lot of us and I have to especially recommend it to parents of eager-beaver young soda-drinkers -- the kids probably will leave this stuff to Mom and Dad, and that's a PLUS for ***GuS*** right there!